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Libreboot

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 86.29.243.86 (talk) at 17:50, 25 June 2023 (further expand the history and reception sections. remove section about libreboot sellers, which in my view does not directly relate to the subject. to WP:BOLDly go where no editor went before. (feel free to reintroduce the sellers section if you want, im going to write about it on the talk page anyways)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Libreboot
Original author(s)Leah Rowe
Developer(s)Leah Rowe
Initial release12 December 2013; 11 years ago (2013-12-12)
Preview release20241008 (October 8, 2024; 2 months ago (2024-10-08)) [±][1]
Repositorycodeberg.org/libreboot/lbmk
TypeOpen-source firmware
License
Websitelibreboot.org

Libreboot (briefly known as GNU Libreboot[3][4]) is a free software project based on coreboot, aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS firmware contained by most computers. Libreboot is a lightweight system designed to perform only the minimum number of tasks necessary to load and run a modern 32-bit or 64-bit operating system.

Characteristics

Libreboot is established as a distribution of coreboot, but with some proprietary binary blobs removed from coreboot.[5] Libreboot makes coreboot easy to use by automating the build and installation processes.[6][7][8][9]

On some devices, Libreboot developers have reverse engineered the firmware from Intel and created a utility to create a free firmware that meets the specifications from Intel.[10]

History

The Libreboot project was started in December 2013.[5] Libreboot is a nonproprietary distribution of coreboot, which excludes nonfree binary blobs. Coreboot began as LinuxBIOS in 1999 at Los Alamos National Labs (LANL), and was renamed "coreboot" in 2008.[11]

Libreboot has been endorsed by the Free Software Foundation, and was an official part of the GNU Project since May 2016. In January 2017, the project's maintainer Leah Rowe pulled Libreboot from the GNU project, after a controversial months-long dispute with the FSF which oversees GNU.[12][13] Rowe later apologized, relinquishing leadership of the project on 2 April 2017.[14]

Libreboot saw a period of stagnation following the GNU controversy, making no releases for 5 years. The last GNU release, Libreboot 20160907 on 7 September 2016,[15] immediately preceded that 5-year period. Libreboot was seemingly revived from 2021 onward following a hostile takeover by Rowe[16]; the Libreboot 20210522 release soon followed, on 22 May 2021.[17][18][19][20]

Reception

According to Kyle Rankin writing for Linux Journal in 2015, Libreboot "greatly simplified and automated" the flashing process, "with a few caveats".[6][7]

According to Bryan Cockfield writing for Hackaday in 2016, Libreboot installation was "harrowing" and "not as easy as you'd think".[21]

Libreboot is also officially endorsed by upstream coreboot project.[22]

Notes

  1. ^ The resulting binary is licensed under the GPLv3

References

  1. ^ "Libreboot - Libreboot news". Libreboot. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  2. ^ "libreboot's COPYING file". notabug.org. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  3. ^ "List of GNU software packages on 22 May 2016". GNU project. 22 May 2016. Archived from the original on 22 May 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  4. ^ "[Libreboot] GNU Libreboot, version 20160818 released". lists.gnu.org. Archived from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b Bärwaldt, Erik. "Liberated » Linux Magazine". Linux Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 August 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  6. ^ a b Rankin, Kyle (28 September 2015). "Libreboot on an X60, Part I: the Setup". Linux Journal. Archived from the original on 22 August 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  7. ^ a b Rankin, Kyle (28 October 2015). "Libreboot on an x60, Part II: the Installation". Linux Journal. Archived from the original on 22 August 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  8. ^ By (16 December 2016). "Harrowing Story Of Installing Libreboot On ThinkPad". Hackaday. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  9. ^ By (20 August 2018). "Installing LibreBoot The (Very) Lazy Way". Hackaday. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  10. ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "Taurinus X200: Now the most 'Free Software' laptop on the planet". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  11. ^ Sun, Jiming; Jones, Marc; Reinauer, Stefan; Zimmer, Vincent (2015), Sun, Jiming; Jones, Marc; Reinauer, Stefan; Zimmer, Vincent (eds.), "Building coreboot with Intel FSP", Embedded Firmware Solutions: Development Best Practices for the Internet of Things, Berkeley, CA: Apress, pp. 55–95, doi:10.1007/978-1-4842-0070-4_4, ISBN 978-1-4842-0070-4, retrieved 27 May 2023
  12. ^ Hall, Christine (6 January 2017). "GNU Officially Boots Libreboot". FOSS Force. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  13. ^ Hall, Christine (16 September 2016). "Libreboot Leaves GNU Claiming Gender Identity Discrimination by FSF". FOSS Force. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  14. ^ "Libreboot –". web.archive.org. 2 April 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  15. ^ "[Libreboot] GNU Libreboot, version 20160907 released". lists.gnu.org. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  16. ^ "How do horizontal Free Software communities respond to a takeover? – Loïc Dachary". 27 August 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  17. ^ The Libreboot project (2021-05), libreboot-20210522, retrieved 2023-06-25 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Free Software Supporter - Issue 158, June 2021 — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software". www.fsf.org. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Второй выпуск Libreboot, полностью свободного дистрибутива Coreboot". www.opennet.ru. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  20. ^ "Nach fünf Jahren: Neue Version von Libreboot veröffentlicht". GNU/Linux.ch (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  21. ^ By (16 December 2016). "Harrowing Story Of Installing Libreboot On ThinkPad". Hackaday. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  22. ^ "coreboot for end users". coreboot.org. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
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